| Wills, trusts and estates |
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| Part of the common law series |
| Wills |
Sections Property disposition |
| Trusts |
Common types Other types
Governing doctrines |
| Estate administration |
| Related topics |
| Other common law areas |
Accumulation and maintenance ("A&M") trusts are a type of discretionary trust for the benefit of children and young people in England and Wales.
The concept of an A&M trust emerged in England and Wales after the enactment of the Capital Taxes Act 1974 (CTA). The CTA discouraged the use of discretionary trusts by introducing new tax rules, but it made a specific exception for trusts designed to help young people under the age of 25. This particular type of trust grew in significance over the years and became known as an Accumulation & Maintenance Trust. They came to fall under the purview of s.71 Inheritance Tax Act 1984, which continued their special tax treatment.
The Finance Act 2006 took A&M Trusts out of the purview of s.71. Today, A&M Trusts are governed by Pt. III, Ch. III IHTA, and therefore receive exactly the same tax treatment as other types of discretionary trusts. [1] As a result, the use of A&M trusts is declining rapidly. The new breed of "18–25" trusts are taking their place.
A trust is a three-party fiduciary relationship in which the first party, the trustor or settlor, transfers ("settles") a property upon the second party for the benefit of the third party, the beneficiary.
Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without having in force a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estate; the remaining estate forms the "intestate estate". Intestacy law, also referred to as the law of descent and distribution, refers to the body of law that determines who is entitled to the property from the estate under the rules of inheritance.
Conspicuous consumption is the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury goods and services to publicly display economic power of the income or of the accumulated wealth of the buyer. To the conspicuous consumer, such a public display of discretionary economic power is a means of either attaining or maintaining a given social status.
Taxation in the United Kingdom may involve payments to at least three different levels of government: central government, devolved governments and local government. Central government revenues come primarily from income tax, National Insurance contributions, value added tax, corporation tax and fuel duty. Local government revenues come primarily from grants from central government funds, business rates in England, Council Tax and increasingly from fees and charges such as those for on-street parking. In the fiscal year 2014–15, total government revenue was forecast to be £648 billion, or 37.7 per cent of GDP, with net taxes and National Insurance contributions standing at £606 billion.
A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being.
In the United Kingdom, Inheritance Tax is a transfer tax. It was introduced with effect from 18 March 1986, replacing Capital Transfer Tax.
The Protective Trust is a form of settlement found in England and Wales and several Commonwealth countries. It has marked similarities to asset-protection trusts found in several offshore jurisdictions and US Spendthrift trusts.
An express trust is a trust created "in express terms, and usually in writing, as distinguished from one inferred by the law from the conduct or dealings of the parties." Property is transferred by a person to a transferee, who holds the property for the benefit of one or more persons, called beneficiaries. The trustee may distribute the property, or the income from that property, to the beneficiaries. Express trusts are frequently used in common law jurisdictions as methods of wealth preservation or enhancement.
The law of Bermuda is based on the common law legal system of England and Wales.
A Henson trust, in Canadian law, is a type of trust designed to benefit disabled persons. Specifically, it protects the assets of the disabled person, as well as the right to collect government benefits and entitlements.
An offshore trust is a conventional trust that is formed under the laws of an offshore jurisdiction.
Saunders v Vautier[1841] EWHC J82, (1841) 4 Beav 115 is a leading English trusts law case. It laid down the rule of equity which provides that, if all of the beneficiaries in the trust are of adult age and under no disability, the beneficiaries may require the trustee to transfer the legal estate to them and thereby terminate the trust. The rule has been repeatedly affirmed in common law jurisdictions, and is commonly referred to as "the rule in Saunders v Vautier" for shorthand.
A discretionary trust, in the trust law of England, Australia, Canada and other common law jurisdictions, is a trust where the beneficiaries and/or their entitlements to the trust fund are not fixed, but are determined by the criteria set out in the trust instrument by the settlor. It is sometimes referred to as a family trust in Australia or New Zealand. Where the discretionary trust is a testamentary trust, it is common for the settlor to leave a letter of wishes for the trustees to guide them as to the settlor's wishes in the exercise of their discretion. Letters of wishes are not legally binding documents.
In trust law, a beneficiary or cestui que use, a.k.a. cestui que trust, is the person or persons who are entitled to the benefit of any trust arrangement. A beneficiary will normally be a natural person, but it is perfectly possible to have a company as the beneficiary of a trust, and this often happens in sophisticated commercial transaction structures. With the exception of charitable trusts, and some specific anomalous non-charitable purpose trusts, all trusts are required to have ascertainable beneficiaries.
Australian trust law is the law of trusts as it is applied in Australia. It is derived from, and largely continues to follow English trust law, as modified by state and federal legislation. A number of unique features of Australian trust law arise from interactions with the Australian systems of company law, family law and taxation.
The Finance Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prescribing changes to Excise Duties; Value Added Tax; Income Tax; Corporation Tax; and Capital Gains Tax. It enacts the 2006 Budget speech made by Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
The Nil-Rate Band is a term defined and used within the tax legislation of the United Kingdom and which establishes the threshold below which some or all of the value of a gift, a death estate or assets held within a trust is subject to a zero rate of Inheritance Tax in the United Kingdom on an occasion of charge to Inheritance Tax. An occasion of charge to Inheritance Tax may not only be the death of an individual, but may also the date of a gift or of another act causing a transfer of value to occur from one person to another person, trust or entity.
A personal injury trust is a legal term of art in the modern English law of trusts and is also applicable, where relevant, to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Futter v HM Revenue and Customs [2013] UKSC 26 is an English trusts law case, concerning the fiduciary duty to take into account relevant factors, and disregard irrelevant factors. It held that trustees who act on professional advice do not breach this duty, and that even if they do, the failure to have proper regard to relevant matters only ever renders a transaction voidable. For a transaction to be wholly set aside, as in common mistake, a decision by a trustee must be based on a truly "basic" mistake.
An employee trust is a trust for the benefit of employees.